The REAL Delilah
The Real Delilah
By BRIAN LEWIS
Delilah DiCrescenzo finished dead last in the U.S. Olympic Trials women’s steeplechase in 10:04.70. Normally dead last-place finishes arenât noteworthy, but this one is. See, the former Columbia University star has been immortalized.
See, Helen of Troy was The Face That Launched A Thousand Ships. But the former Westchester Track Club runner is the Face that Launched a Grammy. Apparently she was the inspiration for the song Hey Delilah.
She and Plain White T’s frontman Tom Higginson met through a mutual friend. He thought she was fine _ which, well, she kinda is _ and told her he’d written a song as an ode to her. When she asked to hear it, he backed off since he was really just trying to Mack and hadnât written a thing.
The song is fiction, because she wouldnât date him. Finally, after it went No. 1 on the Billboard charts last summer, and was up for best pop performance by a duo/group and song of the year, she finally agreed to go on a date _ sort of _ accompanying him to the Grammys.
BTW, last year’s NCAA champ Anna Willard made a strong move with a lap-and-a-half left to win that race in a U.S.-record 9:27.59. So, Anna, how did it feel to make the first Olympic steeplechase team? âAmazing. Fantastic. To be on the Olympic Team at allâ¦I can’t even comprehend. Looking at how things were four years ago … I sucked four years ago.ââ
QUOTE. OF. THE. YEAR. Period.
